Filling the Dozen Top Jobs in Trump's Department of Education

In Washington, when a new president is elected, it sparks weeks of feverish ruminating on each personnel decision, with breathless discussions of everything from high-profile cabinet appointments to who should (or will) be the Bureau of Migratory Waterfowl's next deputy assistant secretary for planning and policy. All of this tends to invest these jobs with more glamour than they probably deserve—since they're mostly marathons of meetings, glad-handing, budgeting, damage control, and bureaucratic oversight. But that's how Washington works.

And the truth is that these appointments really do matter. As the old saw has it: "Personnel is policy." It's the appointees in the various departments who will ultimately shape the Trump administration's educational priorities and agenda. This has never been truer than now, given how much of Trump's educational platform is a blank slate—or one filled with only the broadest of notional directives (e.g. school choice good, Common Core bad).

I'll be clear: I don't know who will populate the Trump administration's Department of Education. I do have a few thoughts on some of the folks I'd like to see in the mix, though—and I figured I'd share them with you, if only so that fewer folks feel obliged to inquire. Please understand that this isn't an exhaustive, careful, or complete list. After all, I have no particular thoughts, for instance, on the commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration. It's more an eclectic mix of some names I'd like to see considered. I'm sure I've forgotten some names that I'd have included if I'd given this more thought, and it's obviously limited to individuals who I'm guessing/hoping might be willing to serve in this choice-friendly, Common Core-skeptical, Republican administration. I've also omitted some of the most outspoken NeverTrumpers (like John Bailey and Mike Petrilli), for obvious reasons.

Keep in mind that I have no juice in any of this and there's no reason to expect anyone to listen to me. But so it goes. With all that in mind, here are some of the names I'd love to see considered for a dozen of the top jobs (I'm not bothering with bios or current positions; if you don't know who someone is, just ride the google):

Categories:

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.